RESIDENTS URGED TO BE SCAM AWARE

The national Scam Awareness Month campaign, held every,
helps to bring awareness to the risk of financial scams, and the impact that
they can have on a person’s life – whether they are by phone, online, mail or
on the doorstep. Scams can be hugely detrimental to a victim’s life; although
most tend to be relatively small, often unreported, some can see people lose
their life savings.

As part of the National Trading Standard’s Scams Team Friends Against Scams
initiative, Reading Trading Standards has been working closely with 5th
Tilehurst Guides again for this year’s Scam Awareness Month to help raise
awareness of financial scams in Reading. The Guides have helped to create a new
"Friends Against Scams” badge, which they hope will help to raise awareness of financial
scams and the effects these can have on families, as well as raise money for
the purchase of Call Blocker devices for residents across the town – the first
GirlGuiding group in Reading to do so.

"This is a brilliant initiative for raising awareness of
such an important issue by 5th Tilehurst Guides. The badge they have
created will not only help to spread awareness, but is a great way of raising
money to help protect residents against potential scams through the purchase of
call blockers.

I would urge more people across Reading to get involved as
well by joining the Friends Against Scams campaign to take a stand against scams
in Reading – community support is so important.”

Kim Jakubiszyn, Leader of 5th Tilehurst Guides said:

"The girls enjoyed receiving their scams training and
afterwards were really concerned that other members of GirlGuiding across the
country as well as people of all ages may not know they are being scammed. So once again the girls put their heads
together and designed a new badge, this one to raise awareness of the Friends
Against Scams Campaign and the National Trading Standards Scams Team across the Country. We want everyone to be more aware of Scams
and so hope that by selling these badges to anyone in the community, we can
signpost people to more information and support. The badges are unique and 30p from every one
sold will go towards purchasing Call Blockers for people in Reading who might
need them. I am so proud of my girls and
their continued challenge of anything that has a negative impact on their
families and communities, they are always proving over and over that
#GuidesMakeInformedDecisions.”

Louise Baxter from
the National Trading Standards Scams Team said:

"Family, friends,
neighbours and community groups such as the Girl Guides play a crucial role in
helping protect consumers and preventing them from falling victim to scams. As
well as leaving people out of pocket – we estimate £5-£10 billion is lost to
scams each year in the UK – victims are often lead to loneliness, shame and
social isolation, which is why we’re committed to working with the Girl Guides
and supporting them to spread the key messages for us.

We are delighted that the Guides have decided
to support the Friends Against Scams campaign and we would like this model to
be rolled out nationally. We find that
scams specifically mail and doorstep scams tend to be targeted at older people
and members of our communities who find themselves in vulnerable situations,
which is why community support and prevention to stop people falling victim to
scams in the first place are so important.

"To help protect and prevent your friends,
family and neighbours from criminal scams you can sign up to free training by
joining our Friends Against Scams campaign: www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk. We
are asking communities to TAKE A STAND AGAINST SCAMS. In the meantime, I’d urge anyone who is
suspects they or a loved one may be a victim of scams to report it to the
Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

5th Tilehurst Guides are a small Guide Group of girls, aged
10 and above, based in Tilehurst, Reading.
They are part of GirlGuiding, which is the leading charity for girls and
young women in the UK. GirlGuiding
Groups across the Country empower nearly half a million girls to be their best
and face the challenges of growing up today.

Call blockers are devices that allow a person to screen
calls coming into their phone and reject, and even block, calls from numbers
that they do not recognise. They can be purchased as a standalone addition to a
phone, or as part of a phone package.

Anyone
can become a victim but, more importantly, anyone can become a Friend Against
Scams and help their friends and family protect themselves.